“The roots of a family tree can reach deep down into confusion, twisting into thick mud or sinking into impenetrable bedrock, and spreading across half the globe…” so begins the family roots-inspired memoir that won Terry Faubert a place on stage to open for international, Celtic storyteller Mary Gavan’s A Road Oft Travelled: The Route to my Roots, April 10 at Evergreen Theatre.
Faubert, along with Mary Lou MacMillan and Rose Marie Williams, will open the show with short, three-minute memoirs after a writing contest among the Powell River Public Library’s dedicated memoir writing program participants.
“I’m really excited to meet Mary Gavan and honoured to share the stage with her and the other memoir writers,” Faubert said. Her story, one of a genealogical journey, will take the audience to Scotland in search of the birthplace of Jane Sinclair—her great-great-grandmother.
“Jane’s name has been passed down through the generations from mother to daughter all the way to my daughter,” she added.
Faubert has been researching her family lines since the early 1980s. “If you can get beyond names and dates, it becomes very interesting,” she said. “It’s very exciting to find out and bring history to life.”
By coincidence, Gavan’s storytelling performance of A Road Oft Travelled also takes place in Scotland. “The road is an old driving road that links my family through the generations, through occupations, and still holds true today,” said Gavan, a former hospice nurse with a PhD in thanatology, a yoga teacher, writer, and teacher among many other endeavours, including an award-winning storytelling CD.
Her extensive storytelling experience, charm and wonderful accent aside, Gavan is known across British Columbia, Canada and throughout Europe for her ability to enchant and delight her audiences with wit, wisdom and thoughtful magic.
“I weave Celtic understanding with the intriguing events of ordinary people,” she said.
The performance is the last in a series called Roads to your Roots, organized by the library to help people get in touch with their roots. Events leading up to next week’s finale included workshops focused on genealogy, family research and memoir writing.
When told she would have a winning memoir writer with Scottish roots open the show for her, Gavan said she was thrilled. One can’t help but wonder if they are perhaps related somewhere far back in their respective family trees.
Faubert said researching her family roots really brought home how related people are throughout the entire world. “We don’t realize the connections we have even locally to other people,” she said. “To me it’s mind blowing.” Even though she has an impressive family tree, Faubert said, “It’s the stories that are really important and interesting.”
The library is inviting the public to hear her story and experience Gavan’s professional one-woman storytelling show, at 7 pm Friday, April 10, at Evergreen Theatre. Doors open at 6:30 pm. The performance is free and no registration is required. For more information, readers can email [email protected] or visit the library's website.
